Biszants v. Stephens Thoroughbreds

620 F. App'x 535
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedOctober 27, 2015
DocketNo. 15-5215
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 620 F. App'x 535 (Biszants v. Stephens Thoroughbreds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Biszants v. Stephens Thoroughbreds, 620 F. App'x 535 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

STRANCH, Circuit Judge.

Gary E. Biszantz contracted with.Stephens Thoroughbreds for the sale of a racehorse. Biszantz alleges that Stephens breached several provisions of the contract, as well as an express warranty created outside of the contract’s written provisions. Biszantz further alleges that Stephens committed fraud through affirmative misrepresentations and omissions. The district court granted summary judgment to Stephens. We AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND

This case concerns the sale of a racehorse named Salina. Stephens originally purchased Salina at a Keeneland sale in September 2012. Keeneland is a combination race track and horse sales company located in Lexington, Kentucky. Prior to being purchased by Stephens, Salina had undergone “arthroscopic surgery on the right hind fetlock.” R. 36-12. The parties dispute whether Stephens knew of the pri- or surgery when it sold Salina to Biszantz.

In the months after purchasing Salina, Stephens employed Dr. Greg BonenClark to examine an abnormality with Salina’s left hind fetlock, which is not the leg that underwent prior surgery. Dr. BonenClark noted “a grade 2 lesion of the left hind medial suspensory branch” and “moderate sesamoiditis,” diagnoses that describe the connection of tendons to the bone. R. 36-3, PagelD 630, 633. Dr. BonenClark reported the sesamoiditis to Stephens, but [537]*537not the lesion, at least as to that term. Salina underwent training during this time period, though the parties dispute the regularity and intensity of that training.

On April 9, 2013, Biszantz purchased Salina from Stephens at Keeneland’s annual Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. After Salina failed to reach Stephens’s reserve price of $290,000 in the auction ring, Stephens’s agent, John Stephens (Mr. Stephens, to avoid confusion with Appellee), contacted Biszantz’s agent, Steve Young, to offer Salina for sale. Mr. Stephens had previously told Young that he “liked [Sali-na] a lot.” R. 36-13, PagelD 732. Young testified that he took this statement to mean “that [Mr. Stephens] thought [Sali-na] was going to bring quite a bit of money.” Id. Young made a $175,000 offer on behalf of Biszantz, which Stephens accepted.

Prior to the sale, Stephens hired Dr. Michael J. Chovanes to take radiographs to be placed in Keeneland’s Repository, which holds relevant information on a horse for prospective purchasers to review. Based on the radiographs, Dr. Chovanes noted to Stephens “a moderate sesamoidi-tis in a left hind ankle” and prepared a radiological report summarizing his findings. R. 36-9, PagelD 700. Upon purchasing Salina, Biszantz retained Dr. Scott Hay to examine the Repository’s radio-graphs; Dr. Hay did not see sesamoiditis in the radiographs and did not request Dr. Chovanes’s radiological report. Though the parties dispute whether the report was in the Repository (and if it was there, whether it was accessible), Dr. Hay testified that the report was in the Repository and that he could have requested it but, based on the radiographs, did not because “I would rather take my own opinion.” R. 36-11, PagelD 722. Biszantz did not perform additional radiographs or ultrasounds on Salina before taking her from Keene-land. Stephens did not disclose Salina’s prior, surgery, and the parties dispute whether Stephens’s medications disclosure, which was not signed by a veterinarian, included all of the medications given to Salina in the 14 days prior to the sale.

Following several months of post-sale training, Salina began demonstrating signs of pain. Biszantz hired Dr. Lawrence Bramlage to examine Salina. Based on new radiographs and ultrasounds, Dr. Bramlage diagnosed avulsion fractures and a left hind medial suspensory branch injury starting at the sesamoid bone. Dr. Bramlage also studied Dr. Chovanes’s April radiographs, coming to the same conclusion as Dr. Hay — that they showed no signs of a bone condition. Biszantz soon received a bill for pre-sale tendon work on Salina, however, through which he learned for the first time of her pre-sale bone condition. The parties dispute whether the pre-sale bone condition was related to the post-sale injuries.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Grants of summary judgment are reviewed de novo. See V & M Star Steel v. Centimark Corp., 678 F.3d 459, 465 (6th Cir.2012). Summary judgment is appropriate only when the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, establishes that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the mov-ant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). A genuine issue of material fact exists when there are “disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). We apply Kentucky law in this diversity case. See Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. [538]*53864, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938); Legg v. Chopra, 286 F.3d 286, 289 (6th Cir.2002).

III. ANALYSIS

After outlining the relevant provisions of the parties’ agreement, we analyze Bisz-antz’s breach of contract, breach of express warranty, and fraud claims below.

A. Keeneland’s Conditions of Sale

At the time of the sale, both Biszantz and Stephens contractually agreed that Keeneland’s Conditions of Sale (the COS) would govern the transaction. The COS provides that prospective purchasers “are accepting any horse purchased with all faults, including all conditions and defects except for applicable limited warranties set out in Conditions NINTH through FOURTEENTH.” R. 21-2, PagelD 174. The COS disclaims all other warranties, express or implied, and specifically instructs that oral statements on the physical condition or racing abilities of a horse do not constitute warranties. • Even under the limited warranties given by the COS, rejection shall be the. purchaser’s sole and exclusive remedy. “In all other respects the AS IS nature of this sale remains in full force and effect.” Id. at 189.

Relevant here are the warranties contained in Conditions NINTH and THIRTEENTH. The NINTH Condition requires the disclosure — by placement of a veterinary certificate in the Repository or announcement at the sale — of any invasive joint surgery performed on a horse two years of age or less. The parties agreed that any allegation of breach of this provision must be asserted within 14 days of sale.

The THIRTEENTH Condition applies to two-year-olds in training and requires disclosure of (1) any medication administered within 14 days prior to sale and (2) “an injury to or disease of the bone structure which, in the opinion of a veterinarian, would more likely than not materially and adversely affect its suitability for training and racing.” Id. at 184-85.

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620 F. App'x 535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/biszants-v-stephens-thoroughbreds-ca6-2015.